About Me

I feel I am able to communicate
well and I have a good grounding
in people skills.......Basically
all humanity is the same!
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The foundation of this blog was cemented by the Assassination of Hrant Dink on 19.01.07. I was listening to Setrak Setrakian’s rendition of Arno Babajanian’s composition, Elegy. So
moved by Hrant’s shortened life by the virtue of speaking his mind that I wrote the poem, ‘Without You’ with Hrant's family in mind. The subject matter of the recognition of the ‘Genocide of the Armenians in 1915,’ is very much at the heart and the minds of Armenian's Internationally.
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I want to say: 'Thank you,'
to Keith for the Creation
and Launch of,
Seta's Armenian.blogspot.com
and Armenag for the sources
of information.
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If you feel it would be appropriate, please include a link to my Blog from your Site. I would like my Blog to be as eclectic as possible and include material from as many and different sources so long as it is relevant to my subject matter.

About My Blog

This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

‘...So many lobbies...Masonic lobbies...This is the worse problem’ Pope Francis said. Indeed. Very problematic lot. Blessed be the Holy Father for fingering that not–so-holy Craft.

Have you occasionally being given a funny handshake? Like a finger scratching softly your palm? Not the nicest feeling. Maybe they are ‘queer’(Horribile Dictu!). Or, more likely, Masons...

Conversely, you might be a grand Elect Perfect & Sublime Master. Or a Knight of the Sword of the East. Or a Knight of the Pelican and Eagle. Or a patriarch Noachite. Perhaps a Prince of Libanus. A Chief of the Tabernacle. Or a Knight of the Brazen Serpent? Or a Grand Elect Knight of Kadosch? If you understand any of this hocus-pocus you yourself are a Mason. But you won’t tell me. Murky stuff. Whistleblowing on such mysteries might spell catastrophe – even death - for you.

What is Freemasonry? A religion? Looks like it. There are Masonic temples and altars and lodges, with chaplains invoking a Supreme Being, ‘the Architect of the Universe’. Yet Masons deny they are a religion. The Craft is rather supporting religion, they state.Hhhmmm...like the rope supporting the hanged man? Pope Clement XII accused Masons of being ‘depraved and perverted’. If they were not in love with darkness they would not fear the light, Clement argued, meaning Masons’ notorious cult of secrecy. So the Pope excommunicated them. Without in the slightest stopping the ‘Brothers’ from plotting and scheming.

Masonic rituals are not reassuring. Bloodcurdling oaths are compulsory. Breaking them may entail having your throat cut across, tongue torn out by the root, then be buried in the sand of the sea, at the low ebb. Or perhaps your breast will be cut open, heart torn out and devoured by wild beasts. Or you’d be severed in two parts...enough. Little wonder a parishioner told me that ‘those oaths gave me regular nightmares’. At last he gave up the Craft. Faith and strength in Jesus Christ helped him to do that.

Unlike the Catholic Church, the Church of England has blissfully been in bed with Masons since their beginning. Many bishops and clergy have joined. Out of snobbery and desire for male networking, sure, but also, to be fair, because English and Scottish Freemasonry were never overtly anti-Christian. Still, the General Synod of the Anglican Church in the 80s commissioned a report on whether you could be both a Christian and a Mason. It concluded that there were ‘a number of very fundamental reasons to question the compatibility’ of such joint membership. Of course, it made not a sausage of difference to anything. No bishop or dean resigned from the Craft. Anyway the General Synod is a laugh, why bother?

The name of Jesus Christ never occurs in Masonic ceremonies. (Nor indeed that of the Prophet Muhammad...) Instead the peculiar name ‘Jahbulon’ is inscribed on the Holy Royal Arch, the altar which is the high point of this bizarre cult. It is unfortunate that ‘Jahbulon’ hides the word ‘Baal’. A heathen Semitic deity, whose worship was anathema to Hebrew prophets like Elijiah. An epic contest on Mount Carmel is told in the Bible. Elijiah challenges the prophets of Baal to a contest, unmasks them and then proceeds to exterminate them. So much for Jahbulon.

What is the purpose of Freemasonry? The ‘Brothers’ swear it is charitable and benevolent. Critics brand them a historically subversive and antireligious organisation, aimed at destroying traditional principles and hierarchies. Did they prepare the way for the French Revolution? (Maybe you like that!) Certainly, many of the Young Turks who undermined the Ottoman Caliphate were Masons. But so were Islamic reformers like Muhammad Abdu in Egypt and even the great Shaikh Abd-el-Kader. Were they aware of what lay behind the benign facade? Conspiracy theorists contend that the Masons were like termites, corroding the foundations of sacred institutions and disguising their true identity in the symbolism of ancient bodies, like the Knight Templars. An Order whose charter was drawn up by St Bernard of Clairvaux, the greatest militant mystic of the Middle Ages. If true, fiendishly clever ruse...

In England the Grand Master of Freemasonry is the Duke of Kent, a cousin of the Queen. Prince Philip also is a member but not Prince Charles. Don’t know about Prince William – I hope he steers clear. The symbiosis of Monarchy and Craft is long-standing and no one seems bothered by it. I have no doubt many socialists and radicals have also rolled up their trouser leg and shared in the fun and perks. The word ‘Establishment’ looms large in all this. (Judges, police and the Law also teem with Masons.) Freemasonry is definitely not a game for the poor and the marginalised, I think.

In all my parishes I knew there were Masons. Three times I was invited to join – one whilst chaplain at the British Embassy in Ankara, Turkey – great honour, eh? Politely, I demurred. For doctrinal reasons but also for matters of taste. To speak plainly, the ‘Companions’ were a bunch of boring old farts. Would a brilliant blade like the priest have wished to waste his time with such a dreary gang? No way.

I wonder what led Pope Francis to list the Masons amongst the dodgy lobbies about. Are there masons even in the Vatican? I would not at all be surprised. An Italian ‘Vaticanologist’, Sandro Paternoster, has written about some of the weirdest cabals at work there. But, remember, Pope Francis, despite the affable and humble appearance, is a Jesuit. A deep one. He knows what is going on. Shadowy powers, beware! A Man of God is after you!

Monday, 29 July 2013

This link is a comprehensive video recording the consecration of
St. Hovhannes Mkrtich ArmenianChurch - 22:34 minute shots
on the day ended in a firework display...Well worth watching,
if only to see the building and its interior design on a mammoth
scale.
Though new, it is a conservative and traditional exterior coupled
with the newest and best materials, and the best craftsmen to
tackle it's intricately designed interior - The richly decorated altar
reflects the homage to the Lord God in heaven who, having seen
it for himself would wonder why such an accolade had been
bestowed up him when the starving men, women and children
in the streets have no where to sleep or eat. The orphanages are
in such poor repair, food is scares and help is also thin on the
ground. YouTube...

‘A gold filling in a mouth of decay’, playwright John Osborne so damned the Royal Family. Yet, decay or not, that piece of gold glitters away. Indeed, it sparkles. The Royal baby, that little scrap of humanity waiving his tiny hand glimpsed on TV, will have melted the heart of even the fiercest misanthropist. People are born suckers for things like that. Well, why not?

Virgil, the poet singer of Roman imperialism, in his fourth eclogue tells of a blessed ‘puer’, a holy child, a boy sent down from Heaven to begin anew a golden age for humanity, redeemed from sin and evil. Christians naturally read it as a messianic hint, a foretelling by an inspired pagan of the coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace. Virgil of course had been born into a world scarred by horrendous civil wars. Rome itself seemed doomed, until Augustus had emerged triumphant and created a new order. Hence, the poets’ immortal verse expressed the universal longing for a better life, a happier society. That vision of glory and justice then incarnated itself in the awaited holy babe.

Alas, William and Kate’s child is not the harbinger of a golden age. British society will continue the decline John Osborne cynically announced. When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953 sycophants blathered about the dawn of another ‘Elizabethan Age’. It was nonsense. Under the first Elizabeth the English race had launched into its phenomenal, epic adventure of world expansion and conquest. Along with a cultural flowering that included a genius like Shakespeare. The second Elizabeth, dutiful and gracious as she is, has presided over her nation’s increasing shrinking power and, sadly, inevitable decay. That is not the fault of the monarch but of what used to be called ‘British subjects’. As you make your bed...

This is no time for gloom, however.Voila’ three reasons why the priest likes what the golden boy means.

First, it is about kingship. True, today’s monarchs are basically crowned presidents. Constitutional figureheads. Not quite useless King Logs, though. A king is a reminder that not all power is necessarily from below. Curmudgeons like Kevin Maguire, Mehdi Hasan and Yasmin Alibaba-Brown are right in being upset by the boy. They perceive that enthusiasm for the little prince implicitly means a slap in the face of the dreary goddess at whose feet they tediously worship: democracy.

One day the boy will wear a crown of gold – the massive crown of St Edward the Confessor. I like that. Never mind how faintly, a golden crown is a bit like a halo. It hints at something higher, supernatural, greater than the abstraction called ‘the people’. Wasn’t one of the gifts the Magi gave to the child Jesus a piece of gold? Very apposite. Because gold stood for power. Royal power. Power not just from below but from above. You see, God is no president. And presidents do not wear crowns – kings do.

Second, the boy is... a boy. That matters. The orgy of relentless feminist propaganda swarming in the media seemed at times to have made it compulsory that it had to be a girl. Instead, three men are now in direct line to succeed the Queen. Dull Dave Cameron’s pathetic ruse to ingratiate himself to the ‘sisters’ has copped out. Feminist ideologues – female and male alike - must be eating their hearts out. They appear to enjoy insulting and denigrating the male of the species as a matter of course. They have managed to make it look as if it were almost a crime to be born a man. Pity providence and nature have given their designs a little check. Hahahahah!

Second, it is about that many-splendored, golden word: love. William and Kate love each other. Even republican fanatics would not deny that. These are two human beings who are in love. Sounds corny but...compare them with Charles and Diana. Ah, the tragedy of that marriage! (Of any marriage like that.) One in which the man was not really in love with his wife. Unhappiness and disaster followed. Not so with William and Kate. And now their love has issued in the miracle of a new life, their child. That is how it should be. Marriage’s purpose, as the Anglican Book of Common Prayer has it, is threefold: a remedy against fornication, for the procreation of children and for the mutual love binding man and woman. Such excellent mandates are handed down from the Creator. William, Kate and their son embody and demonstrate all three grounds.

Third, it is about the Absent One. There is one grandmother missing to celebrate this Royal birth. I mean Princess Diana, whom, I say in fear and trembling, I was privileged to know. References to her have been few and far between. Yet William’s mother smiles on her grandchild from where she is now. Where? I believe Diana has not quite made it to heaven yet. The princess is now climbing the seven-storey mountain, whose name is purgatory. But make no mistake about it, purgatory is probationary only in a positive sense. You can’t slip back down the ascent, you can only climb upwards. Purification is necessary but the supreme goal is assured, God willing.

Iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto. ‘Now a new progeny is sent down from high heaven’ sang Roman Virgil. A golden child. Who cares about the hype? Poetry does it for me: all hail to the boy!

Sunday, 28 July 2013

Recent Articles from the Armenian Weekly...

On July 26, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Lisbon Five operation, hundreds marched in Lebanon in commemoration of the legacy of the five young Armenians who gave their lives for the Armenian cause.

A scene from the march in Lebanon

The march, as well as the dozens of commemoration events scheduled today around the world—including in Chicago and New York here on the East Coast—honored the memory of the Lisbon 5, and the legacy of struggle they inherited, embodied, and passed on.

There is a line that connects Lisbon Five to Tehlirian, to the commemoration of the Armenian genocide, the celebration of Armenia’s independence, and Artsakh’s freedom.

There is a part of Setrag, Vatche, Sarkis, Simon, and Ara beating under the chest of every Armenian struggling anywhere around the world for freedom and justice—including, yes, social justice.

Three decades after the Lisbon Five operation, as the fronts, and the forms of struggle, have changed and multiplied, July 27...

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Dr. Edward Khantzian A clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the co-originator of the self-medication hypothesis of drug abuse which states that individuals abuse drugs in attempt to self-medicate

The Law Offices of Vartkes Yeghiayan, the firm of Kabateck Brown Kellner and the firm of Geragos and Geragos jointly announce that they have amicably resolved their differences which arose from the settlement of Armenian Genocide Claims in the AXA litigation pending in federal court. Specifically, the lawsuit filed by Geragos and Geragos and Kabateck Brown Kellner (Case No. 2:11‐CV‐03043‐ CAS‐AGR), against Mr. Yeghiayan, Rita Mahdessian and a number of charities is being dismissed with prejudice forthwith. Further, the parties have agreed on a process for the review of all costs and charitable awards that the parties have made incident to the AXA settlement. The parties have also agreed to request that the Federal District Court keep and maintain jurisdiction over the finalization of both the claims pro- cess as well as the fulfillment of the terms o! f this settlement agreement among the law firms.

The AXA Insurance Claims Action was a milestone case. It was originally filed by Vartkes Yeghiayan and Brian Kabateck in February 2002 in Federal District Court in Los Angeles. Its intent was threefold: to honor the victims and martyrs of the Armenian Genocide; to foster public awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide; and to compensate descendants of those policyholders who were killed in the Armenian Genocide with the rightful monetary benefit that insurance companies had denied them in the decades following the horrendous deaths of their parents and grandparents.

The lawyers who filed the case are aware that the AXA case is meager compensation for the fathom- less injustice committed upon the Armenian people. They know that while they cannot undo the dark pag- es of Armenian history, they must continue to fight for justice. The day in which Armenians cease to fight to correct even the smallest of injustices they have suffered, such as the failure of insurance companies to honor contracts signed by Armenians in their homeland, is the day in which the genocide which was be- gun in 1915 will be completely accomplished.

It is for this reason that the lawyers involved have all renewed their deep commitment to justice for their community and their forefathers. They have applied that commitment to the AXA case through their zealous advocacy.

In the words of Mr. Yeghiayan: “We must not lose sight of our main objective ‐ which is a measure of justice for the heirs of the victims. The Armenian community expects an orderly and transparent con- clusion of this case.”

Mark Geragos, commenting on the settlement, said: “Brian Kabateck and I are pleased with this reso- lution because it will allow all of us to finalize the settlement agreement, resolve all claims accounting issues and conclude any remaining issues between the lawyers. The resolution of this case is as important as continuing the fight to bring justice for all Genocide victims.”

The parties expect a final accounting and Court order in connection with the AXA settlement to be is- sued within 90 days.

CenterAR News

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COVER PAGE

Dr. Khantzian is a graduate of Boston University. He received his medical degree from Albany Medical College in New York in 1963. He served residencies in psychia- try at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Cambridge Hospital, and he completed his psychoanalytic training at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Insti- tute in 1973.

He is a distinguished life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a former chair of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society Committee on Alcoholism and the Addictions. Dr. Khantzian was founding chair of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Committee on Alcoholism and the Addictions. He is also a founding member and past president of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and was the recipient of their Founders Award in 2000.

Dr. Khantzian is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a founding member of the Department of Psychiatry at the Cambridge Hospital, and associate chief emeritus of psy- chiatry at Tewksbury Hospital. He is a practicing psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, a participant in numerous clinical research studies on substance abuse, and a lecturer and writer on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and substance abuse issues. In addition, he is a recipient of the PHS Distinguished Service Award (1998) and the Massachusetts Medical

Society Award for Excellence in Medical Service (2002). Khantzian is a first generation Armenian, born and raised in Haverhill, Massachusetts. When asked about his

Armenian background, Khantzian said. “My family origins were very humble and there were significant economic disadvantages and hardship, but

our strong family identity and care, much related to our ‘Armenianess,’ has played an important role in persisting with my goals to be a successful physician and a successful family man.” Born to a mother who lived through and survived the genocide, Khantzian is no stranger to adversity. His father died of a sudden heart attack when he was 16 years old, leaving him as the man of the house

ARMENIA DEMONSTRATES RISING LEVELS IN GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2013

News.am -- Armenia advanced by ten points in the Global Innovation Index 2013 and it came at 59th.

The peculiarity of this indicator is that it assesses how innovation is applied in a given country in education, econo- my, governance, and in several other domains

The index was calculated for 142 countries.

Switzerland heads this indicator and it is followed by Sweden and Great Britain. From the CIS countries, solely Moldova (45th) tops Armenia. Also, Russia is 62nd, Turkey is 68th, Georgia is 73rd, Azerbaijan is 105th, and Iran is 113th in this indicator.

The most considerable drop in this region was recorded

in Azerbaijan, with 16 points. In addition, Armenia is included among the eighteen emerging economies—such as India, Georgia, China,

Hungary, and Latvia—that are outperforming other countries in their respective income groups in order of distance; these countries demonstrate rising levels of innovation compared with their peers. According to the index, this is a result of tackling the formulation of a good policy-mix on all meaningful fronts: institutions, skills, infrastructures, integration to global markets, and linkages with the business community.

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EU AND ARMENIA SUCCESSFULLY CONCLUDE DCFTA TALKS

YEREVAN -- The European Union and the Republic of Armenia successfully concluded negotiations on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), as part of the Association Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Armenia.

At the seventh and final round of negotiations – held in Yerevan – negotiators reached agreement on the key ele- ments of a deal which will create a new framework for trade relations between the EU and Armenia. The DCFTA will strengthen Armenia's economic integration with the EU by providing better market access for European and Armenian goods and services to each other's markets. It will offer Ar-

menia a framework for modernizing its trade relations and for economic development on the basis of far reaching harmonization of laws and regulations in various trade-related sectors. These reforms will create the conditions for Armenia to bring key sectors of its economy in line with EU standards.

The improved trade opportunities brought about by the DCFTA are expected to bring economic benefits to both the EU and Armenia.

An independent study suggests that in the long run the Armenian economy could gain an extra €146 million a year, representing a 2.3% increase in GDP. Removing non-tariff measures is key to realizing these benefits. For its part, the EU is expected to gain by some €74 million.

The DCFTA will have significant impacts on Armenia's trade. The forecast 15.2% increase in Armenian ex- ports and 8.2% increase in its imports in the long run will lead improve Armenia’s trade balance in relative terms.

The EU began negotiating an Association Agreement with Armenia in July 2010. The aim was to replace the old Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with a more advanced relationship. The negotiations on the trade part of this agreement – the Deep and

Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) – were launched in May 2012. After seven rounds of negotiations, final agreement was reached on 24 July 2013. The Commission will now report to the EU Member States on the negotiated DCFTA text. After that, the EU and Armenia will carry out the next steps to formally mark the finaliza- tion of the DCFTA as part of the Association Agreement.

The EU is Armenia's biggest trading partner, covering some 32% of its trade. Bilateral trade in goods amount- ed to €951million in 2012.

AZERBAIJAN BLACKLISTS AUSTRIAN MPS OVER VISIT TO KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net - Baku's position on foreign citizens' visits to Nagorno Karabakh, which have not been agreed upon with Azerbai- jan, is unchanged. Baku will continue considering them illegal, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev said, according to Trend News.

"According to the Foreign Ministry's order, Azerbaijan's diplomat- ic missions abroad urged the citizens of the countries they’re accredited to to abandon such visits," Abdullayev said.

A group of parliamentarians from Australian state of New South Wales visited Nagorno Karabakh this week.

"Australia has repeatedly voiced its support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and these actions do not reflect the country's official position," he added.

The Azerbaijani embassy in Australia was instructed to convey Baku's discontent to the country's leadership.

A number of issues related to army- building and cooperation between the two Ar- menian states in this sphere were discussed dur- ing the meeting, attended by Artsakh’s Defense Minister Movses Hakobyan.

Subsequently, the talk continued in an ex- tended format, with the participation by the Armenian Defense Ministry delegation. A spe- cial attention was paid to the food and ware

maintenance of the army and to communal construction. In his remarks, the President underscored the need to give a new quality to the ongoing activities in this direc-

tion and to elaborate long-term programs. He pointed that such approach will give renewed impetus to the econom- ic development of the country and the effective utilization of its potential.

STEPANAKERT -- Two Armenian residents of Nagorno-Karabakh received lengthy prison sentences on Tuesday as they were convicted of spying for Azerbaijan through the Internet.

A court in Stepanakert found Rafael Avagian, a 22-year-old Karabakh Armenian soldier, and his civilian friend Davit Barseghian guilty of high treason and espionage, sentencing them to 11 and 10 years in prison respec- tively.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the accusations stemming from their communication with an obscure foreigner through a Russian online social network. They said they never thought that they are collaborating with Azerbaijani intelligence.

The defendants’ lawyer, Arkadi Israeli, described the verdict as unfair. He argued, among other things, that investigators failed to establish the identity of the alleged Azerbaijani agent who started communicating with his clients about a year ago.

Avagian, the main suspect in the case, said during the trial that the man identified himself as Samvel Azatian and claimed to be an Istanbul-based representative of an Armenian Diaspora charity. He said Azatian claimed that the charity plans to launch benevolent activities in Karabakh and needs detailed information about the Karabakh’s armed forces as well as civilian institutions and infrastructures.

Avagian said he sent pictures and other details of Karabakh army units and received about $1,000 and several other “gifts” in return. He said he then paid Barseghian $200 to travel to an Armenian-controlled district south of Karabakh to take pictures of Syrian Armenian settlers living there.

According to Avagian, the online interlocutor afterwards asked him to make a written pledge to carry out “se- cret tasks” for money. The soldier serving in the Karabakh army on a contractual basis said he signed a correspond- ing document sent from Istanbul shortly before his and Barseghian’s arrest in March.

The arrests were announced by Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) on June 25. In a statement, the NSS also reported the detention on similar charges of a 31-year-old woman serving in the Armenian army.

The NSS said the woman, Mane Movsisian, communicated through Facebook and other online networks with an unnamed Azerbaijani intelligence officer based in Turkey. It claimed that she gave him classified “information of military nature about Armenia.” It gave no further details.

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SOLDIER DIES IN KARABAKH

STEPANAKERT -- news.am -- Military serviceman Narek Hovsepyan (born in 1994) sustained a fatal wound, Armenian News-NEWS.am learned from the news service of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Minis- try of Defense (NKR MOD).

Hovsepyan had died as a result of an unfortunate incident that occurred in an NKR Defense Army unit, on Monday at around 12:30pm.

An investigation is underway to ascertain the details of the incident.

The NKR MOD shares the grief of the dire loss and extends its support to the family members, relatives, and fellow servicemen of Narek Hovsepyan.

"TRANSPORT REVOLUTION": ARMENIA'S CELEBRITIES

OFFERING PEOPLE FREE RIDES AROUND YEREVAN YEREVAN -- Hundreds of mostly young activists continued social protests against the rise in public transport fares in Yerevan. They urged commuters to continue to pay 50 and 100 drams per ride for a fifth consecutive day on Wednesday. Leaders of the movement pledged to carry on with their campaign backed by op- position parties and a growing number of Armenian celebrities that

have not been involved in civic activism until now. Many of the celebrities have taken to the streets offering ordi-

nary Armenians rides in their cars. The tactic, billed Free Car, is meant to dissuade people from using public transportation and keep the pressure up on the authorities.

Some Armenians feel that they have been duped by officials, who, they claim, delayed the price hike until af- ter the February 18 presidential election, which saw President Serzh Sarkisian re-elected. The government denies any such scheming.

“The 150-dram fare is illegal and every citizen has the right not to pay the extra 50 drams,” one of those lead- ers, a young woman, told an outdoor news conference. “This movement is turning into a social revolt,” said another activist. “More and more people are joining in the fight.”

The campaign seems to have influence many Yerevan residents. Their refusal to pay higher fares caused a brief strike by the drivers of two dozen trolleybuses on Wednesday. The drivers, who also collect the fees, com- plained that they are unable to meet their increased revenue targets.

“Our daily [revenue] plan has been raised to 28,000 drams from 14,500 drams,” one of them told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “How can we collect that much?”

The owners of private companies operating Yerevan’s public transport system strongly defended the munici- pal government’s controversial decision to sharply raise fares in the capital, saying that it will save them from fi- nancial ruin.

Yerevan Mayor Taron Markarian, meanwhile, finally publicized the written decision to raise bus and minibus fares from 100 to 150 drams (35 U.S. cents) and double the charge for trolleybuses to 100 drams. It was signed by him on July 19, the day before the new tariffs took effect, sparking angry protests in the Armenian capital.

Opposition leaders immediately pounced on this delay, arguing that under Armenian law government direc- tives cannot come into force before being made public.

The directive signed by the mayor says that transport price hikes were requested by the 48 companies operat- ing Yerevan bus routes. The owners of at least two such firms confirmed this. They said the unpopular measure is the only way of offsetting their losses resulting from recent years’ dramatic increases in the cost of natural gas im- ported from Russia. Russian gas is used, in liquefied and pressurized forms, by virtually all buses and minibuses in Armenia.

Most of the minibus firms are owned by senior government officials, pro-government politicians and their rel- atives or cronies and are therefore unlikely to be loss-making. The higher fares are primarily aimed at maximizing profits made by such individuals.

She noted that they know that Armenia’s human rights defender trav- eled to Moscow in connection with Harutyunyan’s case, but they have no other information.

“Now, my father is in a mental hospital; that’s what I’ve heard; [but] I can’t say whether or not this is true. There is a problem in connection with the brain as a consequence of the concussion; he [also] has a fractured el- bow,” Lilit added.

She informed that the family members have talked with Hrachya Harutyunyan’s attorney, who said Hrachya was doing fine. But the family

could not yet speak with him in person. Furthermore, it was decided that no family member will head to Moscow because this is not worthwhile, since

they cannot do anything more by being there. As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, a truck crashed into a passenger bus on July 13 outside Moscow, and it was found out that the truck driver was an Armenian citizen by the name of Hrachya Harutyunyan. The im- pact of the crash was so powerful that the bus had split in two. The accident claimed 18 lives and about 50 others were hospitalized. The court had Harutyunyan arrested on July 15. To note, he was brought to the courtroom with slippers and a women’s robe. This fact caused widespread discontent among the Armenian public, and protests were staged across the Russian Embassy in Armenia.

MOSCOW WORRIED ABOUT ARMENIAN OUTCRY OVER TREATMENT OF HRACHYA HARUTIUNIAN

MOSCOW -- Russia’s government signaled concerns on Friday about the possible impact on Russian- Armenian relations of an uproar in Yerevan sparked by the controversial treatment of Armenian truck driver Hrachya Harutiunian prosecuted for a deadly traffic accident near Moscow.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin met the Armenian ambassador in Moscow, Oleg Yesayan, to discuss the fallout from last week’s collision of a heavy truck and a public bus that left 18 people dead and more than 30 others wounded.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Yesayan offered “sincere condolences” in connection with the bus crash at the meeting. “It was confirmed from the Russian side that there will be a thorough and objective investiga- tion into that case, which will certainly respect the legal rights of the accused,” the ministry said in a statement.

It was a clear reference to the furious reaction in Armenia to what many people there see as Harutiunian’s de- grading treatment by Russian law-enforcement bodies and a xenophobic coverage of the case by the Russian media. A visibly shocked Harutiunian was made to wear a woman’s hospital robe when he appeared before a Moscow court on Monday. Russian state television emphasized his nationality in its reports on the tragedy.

The driver’s wretched appearance led to a barrage of criticism from Armenian state officials, opposition and civic figures and especially the media. Some media commentators accused the Russian government of deliberately humiliating the Armenian citizen.

The Russian TV images also triggered angry protests outside the Russian Embassy in Yerevan. The embassy on Wednesday accused “certain individuals” of exploiting the affair to whip up anti-Russian sentiment in Armenia. It insisted that the fatal crash had “no ethnic implications” but stopped short of criticizing Harutiunian’s televised treatment.

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According to a spokesman for the Armenian Embassy in Moscow, Russian officials have assured embassy of- ficials that their handling of the arrested suspect was an unintentional “result of haste.”

However, a report in the “Moskovsky Komsomolets” daily on Friday suggests that the Moscow police are un- repentant about their actions. Citing unnamed police sources, the paper said the Russian investigators consider the scandal the result of a “ploy” by Harutiunian’s lawyers. It said they think that the lawyers “might have deliberately not brought him new clothes so that he appears before the court in a miserable way that will cause pity.”

ARMENIAN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED BY THE STATE OF ISRAEL

JERUSALEM -- On Tuesday July 23 2013, His Be- atitude Nourhan Manougian had a meeting with the Israeli Minister of Internal Affairs His Excellency Mr. Gideon Sa’ar, Press Service of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jeru- salem reports.

Mr. Gideon Sa’ar invited His Beatitude, together with the Grand Sacristan His Eminence Archbishop Sevan Gharibian and the Chief Dragoman the very Reverend Fa- ther Goossan Aljanian, at the Knesset, the Parliament of the State of Israel.

After being cordially welcomed by the Minister of Internal Affairs, His Excellency Mr. Gideon Sa’ar handed His Beatitude the official letter, in which the government

of the State of Israel recognizes His Beatitude Nourhan Manougian as the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem. The recognition follows the decision of the general assembly of the St. James Brotherhood from January 24 this year.

His Excellency Mr. Gideon Sa’ar and representatives of the government of the State of Israel spoke together with His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem for some time in a very pleasant and positive atmosphere.

HISTORICAL ARMENIAN BUILDING IN ISTANBUL RENTED DESPITE THE ONGOING TRIAL

ISTANBUL -- The Directorate General of Foundations rented the historical Sanasaryan Han in Istanbul’s Eminönü neighborhood through a tender, despite a legal struggle by Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The tender for renting the historical building, organized by the Directorate General of Foundations on July 18, was won by Özgeylani Construction Company, despite the ongoing trial over the ownership of the building.

Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate claims that the han, which was donated to the patriarchate in 1881 by a Rus- sian-Armenian Mgrdich Sanasaryan, belongs to them as they have the documents to prove the donation. The Direc- torate General of Foundations, on the other hand, claims that the building did not fall under the jurisdiction of a law on the return of properties to community foundations that took effect in 2011 as it had been owned by a person.

Sahin Gezer of Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate Real Estate Commission told the Hürriyet Daily News that they had hoped until the last minute that the tender would be halted. Gezer said they would continue their legal ac- tion.

The Sanasaryan Han had an autonomous status when compared to the other Armenian foundations, Gezer said, adding that this was due to the fact that other foundations had churches and schools, whereas the han had been donated to the patriarchate by a natural person.

Gezer said that the rent of the han should be equally distributed between Armenian schools and public schools without any discrimination, while adding that this was as an offer to the Directorate General of Foundations “as we are equal citizens.”

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Commenting on the resolution on foundations, which entered into force two years ago, Gezer said more than 400 properties were returned but major problems were being faced. “For example, the returned space is accepted as a green area or is closed for housing, so even if it is returned you cannot use it,” said Gezer.

The han, after being donated to Turkey’s Armenian Patriarchate in 1881, was confiscated by the then govern- ment in 1935. The historical building became famous for torture during the time the building was used as the Police Department. The han also served as a courthouse for a while.

‘NO JUSTICE, EQUALITY OR FREEDOM FOR ARMENIANS’ – RADIKAL BLOGGER

Senan Porteron, a blogger for the Turkey-based Radikal newspaper, who spend his childhood in Baku, Azerbaijan, tells about attitude to Armenians both in Baku and in Turkey.

Below are excerpts from his article.

“I was eleven. There was a very old building in our neighborhood in those days. That was a historical building, and no one lived there. One day, my father and I went to see the building. There were inscriptions in Armenian on the rear of the building. My father told me the building was left by Armenians.

“A few months later that building was destroyed, and a new 16- story building was constructed on the site. I was upset when I saw it de- stroyed. That must have been the only thing to remind you of Armeni- ans. The day it was pulled down my father told me about their Armenian

neighbors. They were very kind and hospitable people. They were on the same wave. “Years passed. You can feel only hatred for Armenians in Baku, mainly among young people. Ramil Safarov

is a glaring example. He got a life term for murdering a sleeping Armenian officer. However, justice did not tri- umph because the victim was Armenian. On August 31, 2012, Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan and pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.

“In Turkey the situation is not much different that in Azerbaijan. Everyone is speaking of ‘Armenians’ in an insulting manner. As years pass, the number of Armenians is decreasing, their culture is being destroyed. Armeni- ans are pressed and called ‘strangers’. Armenians have not seen justice, equality or freedom. Unfortunately, they do not see it now either.

“Almost 100 years have passed since the 1915 Armenian Genocide, but the society has not changed. Some people are still seeking to wipe out Armenian culture. An action has been launched to save the remaining 20 Arme- nian houses in Mus.

“The destruction of Armenians’ property is a continuation of the genocide. Property of Armenians and Greeks is being plundered both in Mus and in other cities.”\

REFLECTIONS ON YAIR AURON’S BANALITY OF INDIFFERENCE TRANSLATION INTO ARMENIAN

The Zoryan Institute welcomes the Armenian translation of Prof. Yair Auron’s book titled The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide, an important book in the effort to combat denial. The book, published originally in Hebrew in 1995, is a groundbreaking record of the reaction of the Jewish commu- nity in Palestine before the founding of the State of Israel to the Armenian Geno- cide. Seeing the importance of this pioneering work of comparative history, the Zoryan Institute invited Auron to Yerevan in 1995 to participate in the International Conference on “Problems of Genocide,” the first on genocide held in independent Armenia.

While the official Jewish reaction to the Genocide was muted and largely self- interested, Auron documents instances of support. The Nili Group, for example, an underground intelligence organization, actively sought to aid the Armenian victims. Chaim Weizmann, a Zionist leader and later the first President of the State of Israel,

and Nahum Sokolov, a Zionist leader and a pioneer of Hebrew journalism, publicly condemned the killings. Zionist writers and journalists expressed outraged identification with the Armenians and tried to arouse the conscience of the world. This book was made available to the English reading public by a Zoryan sponsoring its translation, edit- ing and publication.

The Institute commissioned a new study by Auron, which was published in 2003 as The Banality of Denial: Israel and the Armenian Genocide. It dealt with the official policies of the State of Israel regarding the Armenian Genocide, which Auron decried as denial. We hope that the Banality of Denial will also be made available to Ar- menian readers before the centennial of the Armenian Genocide.

Prof. Auron, a long-time member of the Zoryan Institute’s Academic Board of Directors, has been a strong ad- vocate of raising awareness of the Armenian Genocide in Israel. Auron was an early supporter and participant in Zoryan’s Genocide and Human Rights University Program and has gone on to be a leading educator in Israel and abroad on genocide, as well as the Armenian Genocide in particular. He has developed a curriculum that is used in Israel and has been adopted in other countries and has published a series of books in Hebrew and English on the various major cases of genocide, including one on the Armenian Genocide earlier this year.

Prof. Yair Auron is a scholar of great originality, a strong advocate of universal human rights, and a soldier in the fight against denial. It is very gratifying that his work is being acknowledged and appreciated by the Armenian Writers Union and government officials.

The Zoryan Institute and its subsidiary, the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, is the first non-profit, international center devoted to the research and documentation of contemporary issues with a focus on Genocide, Diaspora and Armenia.

For more information please contact the Zoryan Institute by email zoryan@zoryaninstitute.org or telephone 416-250-9807.

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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MUSEUM PROJECT LAUNCHED IN URUGUAY

MONTEVIDEO -- During a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace in Montevideo on Wednesday The presentation of the project of Armenian Genocide Museum in Uruguay was launched.

The project was organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture and Centennial Commemoration Com- mission of Armenian Genocide of the Armenian Community Organizations of Uruguay.

The Museum will be the first one created by initiative of a State outside the territory of Armenia.

The launch of this project was attended by the Minister of Education and Culture, Ricardo Ehrlich, Under Secretary, Oscar Gomez, coordinator of the National Museums, Javier Royer, Ambassador of the Republic of Ar- menia, Vahagn Melikian, and Archbishop of the Armenian Church in Uruguay, Hakob Kelendjian.

Uruguay was the first country to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965, declaring April 24 as Armenian Martyrs Day. The Museum will aim to promote memory, the response to any act of genocide and reflection on racism and xenophobia.

The coordinator of the National Museums, Javier Royer, defined the purpose of this museum as a space for re- flection and education, both on the Armenian genocide as other similar situations. It will deal with xenophobia, rac- ism, ethnocide and will be an educational tool to promote tolerance and peace. Collections will be presented show- ing Armenian culture with tangible, intangible and oral history, but also have space for cultural and artistic expres- sions of other communities. As host, the Ministry of Education and Culture offered the old house of Jose Enrique Rodo, in the Thirty-Third Street, which should be overhauled for this project.

Uruguayan Undersecretary of Education, Oscar Gomez, said that the initiative “ratifies the Uruguayan policy of defense of human rights”.

“The Museum will not only refer to the Armenian Genocide, but also to the defense of human rights in gen- eral and the recognition of other genocides, such as the Holocaust or the Africans genocide during slavery”, he add- ed.

The Museum, will open on April 24, 2015, on the Genocide Centennial Anniversary.

Turkey has emerged as one of the fiercest international critics of what it has called an "unacceptable coup" after Egypt's powerful military shunted the coun- try's elected leader from office earlier this month.

Although the United States has expressed concern at Morsi's removal and called for a swift return to democracy, as has the European Union, it has stopped short of calling it a coup, which might have led to sanctions.

Gulf Arab states, which see Egypt as a strategic ally against any threat from non-Arab Iran, celebrated his departure with palpable relief.

"Countries which embrace and care about democracy should not behave with double standards towards these kinds of events and should say something is wrong when it is wrong," Erdogan told Western, Arab and other am- bassadors late on Thursday.

"Those who extol democracy when they meet with us, saying 'one must not compromise on democracy', we want to see their backbone," Erdogan told his guests at a dinner to break the Muslim Ramadan fast.

Erdogan asked why the world stayed silent over the at least 99 people who have died since Morsi was ousted, more than half of them when troops fired on Islamist protesters on July 8.

"Why aren't you speaking up? Come on, speak up against this. There's no point in being ambivalent," he told the diplomats seated around the room at party headquarters in Ankara.

"If you are not going to speak up here, where are you going you to speak?"

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HOMELAND, BUT NOT “HOME”:

SYRIANS FINDING IT HARD TO SETTLE IN KARABAKH

By Gayane Mkrtchyan Armenia Now reporter

Should Armenians live in their motherland?”

Many Syrian-Armenians facing the need to settle in Armenia permanently give vague responses to this diffi- cult question, trying to decide whether to stay or to leave, and if leave, then for where?

“My grandfather is buried in Aleppo. In his will he asked to transfer his remnants to Armenia and bury here, but even we – living ones – come and find no place for us. If we bring our grandparents’ remains, what shall we do with them? In his will he was teaching us to love our motherland and settle here,” says Sepuh Keshishian, 58, who for the past month and a half has been staying at a guesthouse in Berdzor, Nagorno Karabakh, with his wife and two young children.

The Keshishian family is from Syria’s Kurdish Ras al-Ayn city, where they were one of only ten Armenian families, and had a house, animal-breeding farm, a café. They left all of it behind, and just like their ancestors, took the road of refuge, although this time to their motherland. Sepuh says in 2004 he visited Berdzor together with a few other Diaspora Armenians, it was then that he decided to go and settle there.

“I bought a house, a garage, but for different reasons the local authorities of that time took the house back from me, I even suffered financial damage. I have the garage in my property, and if they give us a house, I might stay and found a business,” he says. “It is hard to see our future here. The locals want to run away, be it Hayastantsi [Armenians of Armenia] or Karabakhtsi [Armenians of NKR], they sell their houses and escape to Russia.”

Rather far away from the guesthouse there is a newly built priory hosting Hakob Artin from Qamishli city, his Greek wife Ghada Ferhat and their two children.

“At the Ministry of Diaspora we were asked if we would like to go to Karabakh. To the question “what’s in Karabakh?” were told ‘a house, a job, livestock’. We had no idea about Karabakh. For a year we lived in a guest- house, now we live in a priory, where living conditions are better. They did not give us a cow, said ‘you have two children’. I am the car mechanic of Ishkhanadzor village with a salary of 100,000 drams ($250), but have not re- ceived it for three months now. Food is a big issue, we have to buy everything and are living in hardship,” says Hakob.

Hakob’s family is one of the four who took an agricultural loan from Artsakh bank – two million drams ($5,000) each with zero interest rate. They sowed barley, but the hail destroyed the crops.

“People said it would be all right. We were promised that one hectare would yield one ton of crops, but we got only 40 kilos, as a result we now owe to the bank and I have no idea how to pay it back. The $2,000 we had with us is long gone. If they give us a house and enough work to suffice for food and clothes, that would be ok, we would stay and live here. But right now it is only about trying not to starve,” says Hakob with frustration.

His wife Ghada says in broken Armenian, that all day long they recall how they used to live and compare to how they live now. With laughter at their own predicament they say their life has turned by 200 degrees.

“I made rice dolma [stuffed vine leaves] today. I go to the market, bring the things we need if I find. There is not much at the market, or if there is, it’s too expensive. Qamishli’s market was rich, you could find everything for very affordable prices,” says Ghada.

The priory is hosting another family: Shamiram Vardanian has resided here for nine months together with her four children. They locked the doors of their house and a shop they owned in Qamishli and left. Shamiram’s kitch- en has the inviting smell of eastern spices. She has made rice, chicken and potatoes.

“Once the war is over, I am going back, there is nothing here for us to stay and live. We differ from the locals with our customs, our language, our cuisine. We were born there, we lived there. Yes we are Armenian, we know our homeland is here, but living is hard. The locals, too, say it is hard, but they at least have their own places to live. If it’s hard for them, imagine how hard it is for us. All of their men are gone to Russia,” says Shamiram. “True, it is better than the war, we are living peacefully, without fear, but we have to be able to have a life.”

They are yearning for re-finding their lost homes here, in the motherland, have a small business to earn their living. Keshishian, with his businessman’s sense, says Berdzor has a ‘treasure’, especially for animal husbandry, but he is reluctant about investing in agriculture.

“For strangers like us it is very difficult here and very risky to take a bank loan and invest in agriculture with no guarantees of good weather conditions. Also, we keep hearing stories of people who lost their businesses be-

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cause of high taxes or they say if we work they will take it away from us as soon as the business runs well. We hear and fear. Nonetheless, there is wealth here, then why aren’t there jobs?” says Keshishian, who works as the guest- house guard with 36,000 drams ($90) salary per month.

“I have come with an expectation that they would give me a house, and that I could found a small business. But if they do not, and I cannot afford buying one myself, I will sell the garage and leave. There is no way back [to Syria], our life there is over, so I would probably move somewhere close to Yerevan, say, Masis or Abovyan towns,” he says.

Robert Matevosyan, head of the re-settlement department of Kashatagh administrative district, told ArmeniaNow that those are groundless speculations and that there are numerous examples of when Diaspora Ar- menians have succeeded in business there. He denies the claims of immigration from the region as well.

In 1992 (during the war), Armenian forces took control over Berdzor (Lachin) town and the Lachin corridor, which was also called the “road of life”, since it was the only land communication between Karabakh and Armenia. Zangelan, Kubatlu and part of Lachin (which are among the seven disputed regions around former Autonomous Republic of Nagorno Karabakh have been re-arranged into Kashatagh region with 3,376 sq.km total area, and the re-settlement of this area is of strategic importance. By the 2011 data of the NKR labor and social affairs ministry, 8,500 people reside in Kashatagh.

This southwestern part of Karabakh has now 38 Syrian families, nine of them in Berdzor, the others in Kovsakan, the second largest city, and Ishkanadzor of Kashatagh region. Two private houses are being built in Berzdor, sponsored by benefactors, and two more are sponsored to be built. The construction of multi-storey dwell- ings in Kovsakan and Ishkhanadzor is expected to be completed in two months.

An urban settlement is planned to be developed in Kashatagh with all its respective infrastructures.

“We are solving two important issues: first, that we are the owners of these lands and by the appropriation of them we answer the political question; second, that we are using these lands for food provision and, in general, economic purposes. We have to have a standard settlement, rather than one for only 10-15 families,” said NKR Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyna during a meeting in Kashatagh.

WITH OR WITHOUT NKR?:

KARABAKH SEEN AS FACTOR IN ARMENIA-EU ASSOCIATION

By Naira Hayrumyan Armenia Now correspondent

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian was due to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of European Union member states and members of the Eastern Partner- ship programs in Brussels on July 22. The visit is another occasion for Armenia and the EU to make sure they are on the same page ahead of the initiating of a major document later this year.

Meanwhile, the initialing by Armenia of the Association Agreement with the EU and the Eastern Partnership project are being ac- tively torpedoed by Russia, and each time it is done with new arguments. The latest ar- gument voiced by political analysis Stanislav Tarasov became as follows: “Armenia is get-

ting integrated with the EU because it is getting prepared to cede Karabakh”. The analyst cited no major proof sub- stantiating his claim, but instead he managed to cause a commotion within Armenian analytical circles.

The subject of Nagorno-Karabakh is becoming the most important in Armenia’s foreign policy. Getting asso- ciated with the EU, Armenia joins the Customs Union of the European Union and a question arises as to where the borders of this Union will lie. There is no actual border between Armenia and Karabakh and the question is where

European customs will be – on the borders of Armenia or Karabakh. During these days Karabakh is marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of its Ministry of Foreign

Affairs. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian was in Stepanakert in this connection. During the same days the first joint military exercises of the armed forces of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic were held. Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and NKR President Bako Sahakyan jointly watched the war games.

Ohanyan stated straightforwardly that Armenia is the guarantor of the security of Karabakh and will stand in its defense in case of aggression. And Sahakyan welcomed the first joint exercises. These might be messages that without Karabakh Armenia will not agree to join any unions and now it is the EU that will have to choose whether it accepts Armenia to its Customs Union with or without Karabakh.

Official Yerevan still has not published the text of the Association Agreement with the EU on the grounds that it is not fully agreed upon, although European officials speak to the opposite. This has led to suspicions in Armenia and Karabakh that the text has undesirable language on Karabakh. But experts do not rule out that the text is not published in order to avoid once again irritating Russia.

Pro-Russian experts in Yerevan and political analysts in Moscow are looking for new arguments. Contrary to their expectations, higher natural gas prices did not cause a social revolt in Armenia, on the contrary, it has boom- eranged Russia itself. Nor did Russia’s sale of offensive weapons to Azerbaijan cause panic in Armenia, while it only aggravated anti-Russian sentiments in the country. Now Russian political experts begin to assert that by choos- ing a course of European integration President Serzh Sargsyan goes against the opinion of 85 percent of Armenia’s population who stand for a pro-Russian course. Almost direct appeals for a change of power in Armenia have al- ready been published in the press.

Meanwhile, if we believe official data, President Sargsyan, who in February was re-elected president with 58 percent of the vote, based his electoral program on European course theses, and it can be argued that 58 percent of voters in Armenia took it into consideration while casting their votes for him. Though, both public opinion polls and vote results in Armenia are controversial.

Armenian experts already say that the statements of Russian pundits about the fact that Armenia may cede Karabakh may be an indication of a certain operation being prepared by Russia in Karabakh, an operation that Ar- menian authorities will later be blamed for.

ON THE EVE OF BREAKTHROUGH Igor Muradyan

Lragir.am -- Russian political scientists and analysts are pro- ducing new arguments on the arena of Armenian-Russian relations.

Stanislav Tarasov, for example, stated bluntly but without spe- cific arguments that rapprochement of Armenia and the West is de- termined by the wish of Yerevan to surrender Karabakh. However, such topics no longer trigger protests in Armenia, and nobody held a rally against European integration for the sake of saving Karabakh.

The topic almost triggered discussions on the political arena on whether Russia is going to surrender Karabakh and blame Armenia. At that time, a new “argument” was released – the government of Armenia does not respect the will of its people. The rector of Mos- cow State Institute of International Affairs Anatoly Torkunov visited Armenia immediately after memorable Kurginyan, at the invitation

of Hmayak Hovhannisyan, and stated that 85% of the population of Armenia supports a pro-Russian orientation, and the European orientation declared by Serzh Sargsyan contradicts the position of the majority of population.

Let’s leave aside the credibility of the referred statistics etc, let’s focus on the fact that a Moscow-based ana- lyst is actually calling the population of Armenia to change the government. The famous apologist of Eurasianism Alexander Dugin admits that Moscow would find a way of changing government of Armenia and other countries if it wanted. There are a lot of ways indeed, and the chances are growing that Russia would use them. The govern- ment of Armenia needs to be changed for a long time now but not after instruction from Moscow and other capitals. The government of Armenia must be changed by the Armenian society. The same society must not allow Russia

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and others to speak the language of blackmail, conjuring with the vital interests of Armenians. Stanislav Tarasov could speak about the return of Karabakh with ease but people living in Armenia cannot accept his words with equal ease. It is possible to find an easy way to state that anything should be expected under such government.

However, if the government believed that everyone in Armenia could easily put up with this thought and only blame the authorities with an offended air, they would have yielded Karabakh a long time ago. However, the au- thorities know that Talaat’s list mentioned by Shant Harutiunyan is open, and in Armenia there will be a lot of peo- ple who will not allow that. Although, some people will continue to nod to the authorities, the same people who do not recognize the legitimacy of the government but have delegated to it the right to make decisions and have put up with them. The Russian politician scientists are flying a kite to find out which topic is more sensitive to the Arme- nian society and what will force Armenia to deviate from the chosen path. The arrow of “offshore” was sharp enough but the government was able to dodge. The rising price of gas further deepened anti-Russian moods. Even the threats on resumption of war in Karabakh (with the help of demonstrative newsmaking of Smerch missiles to Azerbaijan) acted against Russia, not the Armenian government. Now an argument is needed against the govern- ment, and the selected instrument is the topic of surrender of Karabakh. It is true that none of the Russian analysts may explain why Serzh Sargsyan needed to fight for his second term so desperately if he is going to surrender Karabakh and get into history in this capacity. Overturn or preservation of government in Armenia is the sovereign right of the Armenian people. Unlike Russia where Dugin refers to Putin as government, state, empire, in Armenia, thanks God, not all power belongs to Serzh Sargsyan. With him or without him, Armenians cannot commit a sui- cide.

All those who have honored Erdogan have simply dishonored themselves. The sooner they revoke their acco-

lades, the sooner they will redeem themselves from their disgraceful acts.

TURKEY’S ARMENIAN GHOSTS

For many years in Turkey, conversations be- came awkward if they turned to defining what used to be called the “events of 1915”. Basically, I had read one set of history books, which discussed the genocidal deaths of 1-1.5 million Armenians who died in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War deportations. Most Turks had read a completely different set of books. If there was a mention of the Armenian question at all, it was suggested that some unfortunate wartime acci- dents had been exaggerated by Turkey’s enemies as part of great conspiracy to do the country down.

Discussion, therefore, would usually soon choke up, having revealed a genuine absence of knowledge of what happened to the Armenians, accompanied by a naturally offended sense of per- sonal innocence; a counter-assertion of the never- addressed trauma of the wrongs done to millions of Muslims expelled from their homes in the Bal-

This old lady in Ergen (Dersim/Tunceli, Turkey) is an Armenian who converted to Alevism, the heteredox faith influenced by Islamic Shia thinking that predominates in that province. Photo by Antoine Agoudjian

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kans and elsewhere in the 19th and early 20th centuries; legalistic arguments about how by the 1948 UN Conven- tion on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide cannot be applied retrospectively; and among a few who worried that something awful could have happened, fears that any recognition of an Armenian “genocide” would result in expensive reparations, awkward atonement, and, not least, odium or worse for contradicting the of- ficial narrative of denial.

With such minefields to cross, therefore, I found I alienated less people by discussing basic facts of the case rather than how to label it. I agreed with the advice of Hrant Dink, the late Armenian newspaper editor, who would say it was counterproductive for outsiders to insist upon one formula or another until Turkey was ready to debate fully and reach its own conclusion. He believed that processes like Turkey’s EU accession would bring freer infor- mation, and with that, understanding of what really happened. The trouble is, Dink was murdered in 2007, perhaps precisely because he represented what should have been a joint Armenian-Turkish road to reconciliation. Sadly, Turkey has yet to get far in undoing the official ideology of denial and hostility to Armenians that formed the mind of the young nationalist who pulled the trigger – let alone bring to justice acts of official negligence and even offi- cial complicity with this killer.

Now a new book by the Turkey reporters of France’s Figaro and Le Monde newspapers has done an electrify- ing job of filling Turkey’s information gap. Surprises lurk under every stone turned over by Laure Marchand and Guillaume Perrier’s “Turkey and the Armenian Ghost: in the steps of the genocide.” (La Turquie et le fantome Arménien: sur les traces du génocide, Actes Sud, March 2013: Arles, France). It will be published in Turkish by İletişim in January 2014, and deserves to find an English publisher too.

The authors’ inventory of discoveries shows just how much that is Armenian has carried through into modern Turkey. They then use these to make a controversial yet compelling argument: that the Turkish Republic founded in 1923 shares moral responsibility for whatever happened to the Armenians. They contend that Turkey’s many dec- ades of denying that there was anything like an Armenian genocide is actually part of the continuation of a pattern

of actions by the Ottoman governments responsible for the Armenian mas- sacres and property confiscations of the 1890-1923 period. For instance, the judicial “farce” of the investigation and trial of Hrant Dink’s murderer is, to the authors, proof positive that “since 1915, impunity has been the rule”.

There are other rude shocks. Some Turks now realize they were being misled by the old official narrative of denial, thanks to a new openness about and better understanding of the Armenian question in Turkey over the past decade. But how many appreciate that Istanbul’s best-loved Ottoman land- marks are often designed by Armenian architects? How many know that the famed Congress of Erzurum, corner stone of the republic’s war of liberation, was held in a just-confiscated Armenian school? And how many have heard, as Marchand and Perrier allege, that even the hilltop farmhouse that became the Turkish republic’s Çankaya presidential palace was seized from an Ar- menian family – and that descendants of the family, some of whom were well-enough connected to escape with their lives — can calmly be inter- viewed about this “original sin” of the republic? (The official history of the palace simply says that Ankara municipality “donated” it to republican founder Kemal Atatürk in 1921).

It seems apposite that the authors quote Çankaya’s current incumbent, the open-minded President Abdullah Gül, as saying while he toured the ru- ins of the ancient Armenian capital of Ani on Turkey’s closed border with Armenia: “That’s Armenia there? So close!”

Amid such evidence that Turkish perceptions can be naïve, one problem with the book is its unrelenting insist- ence that Turkey end its “fierce” and “obsessive” denial that a genocide happened (unlike, the authors point out, Germany, Serbia, Rwanda and others). This tight argumentation leaves the impression of a Turkey that is deliber- ately calculating and somehow evil, rather than the more likely case that it is clumsy, embarrassed and a prisoner of its own contradictions. A preface by U.S.-based Turkish academic Taner Akçam, a once-lonely pioneer who calls for Turkish recognition of the Armenian genocide, sets a trenchant tone and outlines the problem. “To recognize the Armenian genocide would be the same as denying our [Turkish] national identity, as we now define it”, Taner writes. “Our institutions result from an invented ‘narrative of reality’... a coalition of silence ... that wraps like a warm blanket...if we are forced to confront our own history, we would be obliged to question everything”.

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Marchand and Perrier brush aside any need for a transitional commission to study the history of the genocide, as suggested in the still-born 2009 protocols between Turkey and Armenia, because the genocide “is a fact that that is barely debated in scientific circles”. Even though the study of Russian archives on the matter is still in its infan- cy, for instance, the authors dismiss valid elements of the Turkish narrative as yet more ghosts whose abuse has made them an extension of the earlier misdeeds. Parts of the Turkish story are therefore mentioned in passing or only partially, like the massacres of Turks and Muslims by Armenian militias operating behind Russian lines, the 56 people were killed by Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) terrorists during their 1970s and 1980s terrorist campaign against Turkey, or the fact that most of the one million refugees from the fighting in Mountainous Karabagh are Azerbaijanis who fled conquering Armenians. Also, there may be some ill- judged memorial ceremonies, but Turkey does not have a “cult” of Talat Pasha, a probable principal architect of the Armenian genocide. As the authors themselves point out, the site of his grave in a small official memorial park for the Committee of Union and Progress leaders of late Ottoman times gets little official or popular attention.

Still, Marchand and Perrier state early on that their mission is not to write history, but to “give visibility to what has been erased ... to gather together an antidote to the poison of denial ... because impunity is always an in- vitation to reoffend”. And here they succeed to a remarkable extent, finding much that remains of Armenians, even as Turkey nears the 2015 centenary of when they were effectively erased from Anatolia: survivors, converts, cryp- to-Armenians, derelict churches, descendants of ‘righteous’ Turks, artisans’ tools in second- hand shops, flour mills, abandoned houses, songs and traditions. “Turkey”, they say, “is still haunted by the ghost of an assassinated people”.

Indefatigably, the authors travel to remote mountain villages and with President Gül to the Armenian capital for a football match that was part of the ill-fated late 2000s reconciliation process. They listen to the Armenians of Marseilles, France’s second city where 10 per cent of the population are descended from Armenians who fled Tur- key, and explain why France and its parliament are so sensitive to the Armenian question. (They also suggest that some in the Armenian di- aspora have constructed a counterproductive dream of a “fantasy Ar- menia, a promised substitute land”.) They interview the grand-children of a brave Turkish sub-prefect, Hüseyin Nesimi, who tried to stop the

massacres in 1915, but was quickly assassinated near Diyarbakir, pre- sumably at the orders of an alleged local organizer of the killings. They sit with the family of an Armenian citizen of Turkey killed by a far-right nationalist fellow soldier while on national service – on April 24, 2011. They slip into the mountains and show in a feast of detail how the spirit of the Armenian ‘brigands’ of yore lives on with the left-wing TIKKO group (Turkey’ Workers’ and Peasants’ Liberation Army, founded, you guessed it, on April 24).

In Sivas, they visit the last few rat-infested ruins in the once-thriving Armenian quarter. In Ordu, they find the old Armenian quarter rebaptised “National Victory”, and the old main church now turned into the mosque. In an- other town, an Armenian protestant church survived as a cinema and now an auditorium, with no sign of its prove- nance. Elsewhere, the dismantled stones of Armenian monasteries and houses have become the building material for new houses, sometimes with their religious symbols becoming decorative features. State ideology, they think, “even wanted to assimilate the stones”.

They join an Armenian guide who arranges tours for diaspora visitors to find the many souvenirs of Armenian- ness in eastern Turkey – and inhabitants who are not as hung up about their Armenian connections as might be ex- pected. This picaresque explorer has tracked down 600 former Armenian villages, in some of which 1915’s survi- vors occasionally lived on for decades (the authors even stumble upon one during their travels). Other small Arme- nian communities “hidden, forgotten or assimilated” still live in thirty small or medium-sized towns. They show how village names have been changed and the memory of Armenians has been expunged. Very few people in Tur- key are aware that the now iconic and ubiquitous signature of “K. Ataturk” was one of five models of signature dreamed up for the new republican leadership by a respected old Armenian teacher in Istanbul – whose son tells the story to the authors.

The authors discuss the impact of Fethiye Çetin’s 2009 book ‘My Grandmother’, which lifted the veil on Tur- key’s many Armenian grandmothers, saved from the death marches to become servants or wives. In Turkey there are now, the authors believe, “millions of grandchildren of the genocide” who, because of the way Armenian-ness has been denigrated, have not wanted to be identified “more out of shame than fear”. In a province like

Guillaume Perrier and Laure Marchand

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Tunceli/Dersim, “it’s rare to find a family that doesn’t have an Armenian grandmother or aunt”. Shared saints’ days, common dances and music have blended into a new Armenian-Turkish-Kurdish mix in which it is hard to tell where one ethnicity ends and another begins. The book recounts touching scenes from Armenian churches as some of the descendants of Armenian converts try to return to the Armenian church and community. Indeed, the picture that emerges gives new meaning to the sign held up by many in the massive funeral procession in Istanbul for Hrant Dink: “We are all Armenians”.

Marchand and Perrier do not spare Turkey’s Kurds, who they say need to accept not just that there was a gen- ocide but also recognize their part in plundering and kidnapping from the Armenian death marches. Still, a mainly Kurdish-speaking city like Diyarbakir has played a leading role in trying to make amends for what happened to the Armenians, rebuilding a church that had fallen into ruins, and bringing the language back into official use at a mu- nicipal level. Much of Diyarbakir actually used to belong to Armenians – more than one half, the authors suggest.

Indeed, the authors point out that many of Turkey’s grand companies today got their start in places where Ar- menian businesses had been forced out. Crucially for their argument of continued responsibility, appropriation con- tinued into the republic, with the wealth tax that crushed the “minorities” in 1942 and the state-tolerated actions that took successive tolls on minority properties in the decades thereafter. (This continues: the front page headline of Taraf newspaper today, 19 July 2013, is an angry denunciation of municipal plans to appropriate, knock down and redevelop the last stone houses of the abandoned old Armenian quarter in the eastern town of Muş). It’s not all grand state policy: they meet the family of an Armenian convert to Islam who came back from his years of military service to find that his lands had been peremptorily seized by his neighbours. There are harsh words about the ener- gy that goes into the search for gold and valuables thought to have been hidden by Armenians as they were forced out of their homes: “pillaging is still today a national sport ... a prolongation of the plundering.”

At first the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan looked as though it would lead Turkey out of this dead end. But it failed to see through normalization protocols with Armenia in 2009, and later it was Erdoğan himself who ordered the demolition of a monument to friendship with Armenia in the border town of Kars – on another 24 April. The authors give little credit to his government’s restoration of some Armenian churches and reinstatement of at least some Armenian property confiscated by the republic. Perhaps this reticence is because of the bad grace sometimes on display. At the reopening of the Armenian church of Akdamar on Lake Van, favorite of Turkish tourism posters, the envoy from Ankara managed to make a speech that mentioned neither the words “church” nor “Armenian”. Also, there were more than 3,000 active Arme- nian churches and monasteries in Anatolia before the First World War; now there are just six.

“Turkey and the Armenian Ghost” ends by conjuring up the changing spirit of the Armenian history debate in Turkey. This is largely thanks to the determination of Turkey’s academics since 2000-2005 to end what they knew to be an unacceptable and professionally untenable official policy and culture of denial. Clearly, it is real and trust- ed information developed by such experts at home, not the grandiose and sometimes hypocritical declarations by foreign legislatures, that has the best chance of changing the Turkish public’s mind. Marchand and Perrier’s stilet- to-sharp impatience with the Turkish state’s slow pace or lack of official change may alienate many of those who most need convincing. But people can increasingly see more elements of what happened, and the deeply re- searched, convincing reportage in this book can help open up minds. “Of course it’s a genocide, but that’s a word that doesn’t work,” academic Cengiz Aktar tells the authors. “The only way to block the narrative of denial is to develop a policy of remembering, and to start the process of informing the population.”

In late June, press around the world reported that Azerbaijan had fi- nally chosen an export pipeline for its natural gas to reach European mar- kets. This process took over a decade and involved in-depth involvement by Washington in the form of the U.S. Special Envoy for Eurasian Ener- gy and the hard work of the new Bureau of Energy Resources under Sec- retary Kerry at the State Department. Since President Clinton’s first term, through Democratic and Republican administrations, connecting Azer-

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baijan’s resources with NATO allies in Europe has been a strategic priority, requiring stealthy maneuvering around Russian-backed plans to scupper it.

Moscow sought to keep its former Central European satellites dependent on its gas supplies and vulnerable to geopolitical manipulation through mid-winter cut-offs, which occurred regularly in the mid-2000s. This challenge has now been greatly reduced due to complicated energy diplomacy conducted by Azerbaijan and the United States. But Moscow has an ace up its sleeve.

The natural gas pipelines connecting Azerbaijan to Europe inevitably have to snake around neighboring Ar- menia because of the intractable conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. This so-called frozen conflict has since the end of the Cold War become synonymous with the sort of faraway, messy and unrewarding conflagrations that Washing- ton does not want to get mixed up in. But in this case, the far from frozen, but rather simmering conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is one that will come back to haunt the United States if it does not do its best to encourage a process towards conflict settlement.

With the fates of Egypt and Syria uncertain and Secretary Kerry stuck in the perennial logjam of Israel- Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh actually presents the State Department with a conflict resolution process that could become a major success story. As relations with Russia worsen by the day, however, Karabakh could also be used as a pawn against U.S. interests in a region bordering Iran, with important thoroughfares for the military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Russia has long acted as Armenia’s patron, taking its side in the active war with Azerbaijan in the 1990s and maintaining a major military base in the country with treaty promises to defend Armenia in case of attack. As Azerbaijan becomes an increasingly faithful ally of the United States—assisting in both the Afghanistan and Iraq theaters—Moscow has turned a cold shoulder to Baku, even as Azerbaijani policymakers try to maintain cordial relations with their rival's closest ally.

If it wanted to disrupt the flow of strategically important natural gas to America's European allies—or simply assert its pugnacity in a geopolitically contested region—Moscow could at any moment reignite the Karabakh con- flict, plunging Iran’s northern border and Turkey’s east into tumult. Such a move is not without precedent: on the pretext of intervening in a similar such conflict, Russian forces invaded neighboring Georgia in 2008. Though at the time much was made of Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s supposed eagerness for confrontation, almost all serious postmortems have concluded that the preplanned Russian invasion was aimed at ensuring that Georgia did not get too close to NATO and the United States.

To his credit, Secretary Kerry has on numerous occasions recognized the importance of moving towards con- flict resolution on Karabakh. During the recent visit of Azerbaijan’s foreign minister to Washington, Kerry said that resolution was “critical” at this moment for many of the reasons described above. Kerry is in fact uniquely suited to shepherding a solution to the conflict. Azerbaijan is a close partner of the United States, but Kerry in particular has the trust of the Armenians, having long represented the interests of vocal Armenian-Americans as a Massachusetts senator.

To achieve success during his tenure, however, Kerry must tweak his approach. The crux of the disagreement over the contested territory of Karabakh—which is within internationally recognized Azerbaijan, but occupied by Armenia—is that the two sides cannot come to terms on the final status of the area. However, trying to find some, informal at least, agreement on final status as a pretext for negotiations is a nonstarter. This is putting the cart be- fore the horse.

Breakthrough on Karabakh, and a much needed foreign-policy success for the Obama administration, will only come if Secretary Kerry brokers high-level negotiations and some tangible progress on the ground without precon- ditions. Following two decades of discussion, a number of well-known plans are on the table for the settlement’s final status. The two sides already have opinions on them and will not agree as long as the status quo persists. There is no better secretary of state in recent memory to convene such talks than Kerry.

Rather than a messy frozen conflict, Karabakh is an opportunity waiting to be seized by this administration. And given Russia's ability to worsen the conflict to America's disadvantage, it is an opportunity that cannot be missed.

Alexandros Petersen is the author of The World Island: Eurasian Geopolitics and the Fate of the West and co-editor of chinaincentralasia.com.

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THE WEST SHOULD PREPARE FOR ASSAD'S VICTORY IN SYRIA By Con CoughlinWorld

This morning's report that hundreds of former Syrian rebels are laying down their arms and taking up the govern- ment's offer of an amnesty is further evidence of what I have been saying (and writing) for months: President Bashar al- Assad is winning Syria's brutal civil war.

Ever since Assad's forces turned the tide of the conflict by retaking the strategically important town of Qusayr on the Lebanese border earlier in the summer, there has been an almost immutable momentum building in favour of the re- gime gaining the upper hand in the conflict.

A combination of the deep divisions with the rebel ranks, with the Syrian Free Forces declaring war on their al- Qaeda allies (a civil war within a civil war), together with the tangible support Assad has received from his Iranian and Russian allies, means that the rebel cause is now all but lost. No wonder some of the rebels have decided they

are fighting for a lost cause, and have decided it is no longer worth risking their lives. Moreover, as General Sir David Richards, the former head of Britain's Armed Forces, explained in my valedic-

tory interview with him for the Telegraph last week, calls by the likes of David Cameron and William Hague to arm the rebels now seem likely to fall on deaf ears.

Apart from the fact that establishing a no-fly would be tantamount to a declaration of war on Damascus, the possibility that sophisticated Western weaponry might fall into the hands of Islamist militants has been sufficient to dissuade most Western governments for pursuing that particular course.

The result is that the rebels are now accusing the West of betrayal, and the Assad regime, as MrCameron warned at the weekend, grows stronger by the day. It is now simply a question of time before Assad declares victo- ry, and the rebels are left to lick their wounds.

Consequently I believe the time has now come for Western leaders to get their collective heads around the idea that Assad is going to emerge victorious from his brutal assault on his own people, with all the implications that will have for the future.

Such an outcome would weaken the global standing of Mr Cameron and President Barack Obama, who have consistently called for regime change in Damascus. And it will strengthen the influence of Iran and Russia, which have refused to bow to international pressure to abandon their support for the Assad clan. On this assessment, it is not only the rebels who are going to lose in Syria.

Read more by Con Coughlin on Telegraph Blogs

TOGETHER WE MADE A DIFFERENCE By Rev. Dikran Youmshakian

Seven volunteers from the United States and two volunteers from Armenia made all the difference in the Village of Vahagni in the Lori region of Armenia. This group included two constructors, an engineer, a medi- cal student, two mechanics, an auditor, a graphic designer and a minister. They traveled on their own expense and dedicated their talents to renovate a medical clinic which was built by the Italian Government in 1989.

(Photo: LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images)

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This clinic was set as a temporary facil- ity to serve seven villages by replacing a hospital which was completely de- stroyed during the tragic earthquake of 1988. The temporary facility remained in service for almost 25 years but need- ed urgent repairs.

As we entered Vahagni, the vil- lage sign foreshadowed the depressing conditions that we were yet to encoun- ter. It was an old rusted sign in Arme- nian and Russian that was hard to read. The bumpy dirt road leading to the vil- lage was difficult to drive on. We were

very surprised that the van and old truck carrying us and the building supplies even made it to the clinic in the center of the village, given the terrible road conditions. The clinic was in a much worse state than we had an- ticipated. Several holes on the roof had let rain water pour through creating hazardous mold on all of the walls. There was only one heater, an old portable one. Water was leaking from old faucets. Electric wires were hanging loose from the ceiling. The floor was in terrible condition, each step more uneven than the last. Outside the clinic was no different with cracked walls and chipped paint. They had built a fence using old re- frigerator doors and rusted pieces of sheet metal to isolate the property. Weeds had covered most of the un- paved path leading to the clinic.

How could such a clinic be still in operation?“We do not have any other choice,” said Dr. Ashot Hagopian, who is the only medical care provider in the entire region. He is originally from Yerevan, and upon graduation took the assignment to move to Vahagni to serve people of these seven villages.“I am here for 34 years doing my best,” he said, and thanked us and our organization – Dorcas Aid America, for voluntarily un- dertaking the renovation of this clinic.

Life in the village is a total struggle. There are no businesses. A clothing factory that once employed 500 people was shut down after the collapse of the Soviet Union.“Rather than keeping it in operation,” Mr. Alex Timaksyan, our host, said, “those in charge sold the equipment.” The only source of income the village had evaporated just like that. People in the village were forced to leave and move either to Vanatzor or Yere- van. Today however, the situation has not changed. There is an outflow from this village and almost all parts of Armenia to Russia and overseas, as people are seeking better employment opportunities.According to the mayor of the Village, Mr. Bedros Kochinian, the number of people inhabiting the village today is 1200, but most villagers claim the number is much less. Only those who are devoted to the land of their ancestors re- main, yet they struggle to survive.“We have history here,” Alex said, “it goes back to the days of Vartanantz. Our family’s name is connected with the history of Vartanantz according to historian Movses Khorenatzi.” Alex was a film director once, but now he herds cows and keeps chickens. His work starts before dawn and does not end until much after dusk. They have fields, but no equipment for agriculture. He and others like him who are dedicated to staying in Vahagni are the only hope for the future. However, they are in great need of help. Minor improvements in the village, such as paving the roads and providing them with agricultural tools will help support this village. “Thank God we are not dying of hunger,” Alex said, “but the government should show some mercy to the villages. We will make this land prosper. We are the heart of our homeland,” he added.

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You could see the pain in his and his wife’s eyes. Their parents once were exiled for 17 years in Siberia, miraculously surviving and returning to the village. Their oldest son, Marat, was 20 years old and was in mili- tary service in Karabagh. In June of 2012 they received the painful news that he had been shot and died on the way to the hospital. The village does not have a church, so his body was just laid in a cemetery overlooking the village. The only church building in the village was unfortunately destroyed during the earthquake and was never rebuilt. “It was not functional anyway,” Alex said, “for during the Soviet era, it was used as stor- age.” I noticed that the people in the village are thirsty to hear the Word of God. They need to experience love and hope that only God can provide.

Ignoring their hardships, the villagers are very welcoming and hospitable. They all invited us into their homes and shared with us their home grown food. The khorovadz (Pork Kebab) was most delicious. They were delighted to have a group of Armenians from overseas. This was the first time that a group of volunteers had come to help. Some villagers asked why we are doing this. “For the love of the land and for the love of God,” we answered. While I was painting the back wall of the clinic, one elderly person said, “You don’t need to paint here, no one will see.”“God will,” I answered and started a conversation about faith with him. He was very anxious to hear more.

We started work on Monday, July 1, and within 10 days, we had completed our project. The roof was fixed, the mold was cleaned, the walls were painted, a metal fence was built around the property, the floor was evened and covered with linoleum, seven electric heaters and a water boiler were installed, new light fixtures were put in place, the bathroom was renovated, a new refrigerator was purchased and was gifted to the clinic. The clinic is now operational to the satisfaction of the doctor and the mayor. We also had to renovate the sign at the entrance of the village. People now clearly can read in Armenian and English the name VAHAGNI. The mayor of the village officially acknowledged our service and thanked us on behalf of the seven villages that depend on this clinic. He also expressed his desire to see us next year with another project.

On Wednesday, July 10 as we were leaving the village we stopped at the repaired sign and took a group picture with Mayor Kochinian and Dr. Hagopian. As we were leaving, Alex, who had a sense of humor said, “it is good that you cleaned the sign, but now the villagers, who are used to the old rusted sign, will be con- fused and will miss the exit.”

This new sign however will remind the villagers that there is hope, that there are Armenians in the dias- pora who care. Together we can make a difference and we should for the sake of our Motherland.

This mission project was organized by Dorcas Aid America (DorAid), a Christian charitable organization which is an affiliate of Dorcas Aid International based in the Netherlands. Dorcas serves in several countries around the world including Eastern Africa, Eastern Europe, former Soviet Republics and the Middle East. The focus of Dorcas is one of relief and development. For more information please visit www.dorcas.net or www.doraidamerica.org.

Rev. Dikran Youmshakian is the Director of DorAid America and the Pastor of the Armenian Bible Church of Hackensack, NJ.

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